The Love of a Mother
by bluejay96343
Summary: When Carly's life falls apart at the seams, Todd Manning makes a promise. **WARNING: character death**
1. Chapter 1

**I'm just going to start off by saying that writing this story KILLED me. So if you hate all of my stories, this is good news for you. Please, please Review! I would like to know what other people think of my writing. I love Carly and Johnny, but there is no denying that Carly and Todd have some chemistry. Okay, not just some, but I think if they had anymore chemistry they Earth would implode on itself. I don't own GH, ABC, Characters or storylines. I sincerely hope you ENJOY! I know this is the story I hated to love. (:  
**

Carly sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand noting the frosty coating on her sleeve. She was so angry should couldn't feel the cold.

Carly wouldn't have been surprised if the snow melted right as it hit her. Her cheeks were burning with indignation and the image of Johnny on top of ANOTHER woman under the sheets was permanently burned into her retinas.

Carly heard footsteps crunching loudly in the newly fallen snow and prepared herself to be confronted by Johnny.

"Enjoying the weather?" Todd asked, smirking as he saw Carly jump and turn to face him. She obviously had been expecting someone else.

"Of course. Why else would I be sitting on an icy bench on a shady pier overlooking the rundown warehouse my ex-husband let my son get shot in?" Carly snapped.

Todd looked taken aback, "Wait. What?" Carly let out a heavy sigh before saying,

"Sit down. I'll tell you the story." Todd sat and listened as Carly told the story of her eldest son, Michael, getting shot in the head.

"So Johnny sleeping with Kate must have been like pouring salt in the wounds. Sonny and Johnny both pick Kate over you and your family. That sucks."

Carly tried to be mad at Todd's gift for understatements and his pure bluntness but she couldn't. Carly had been craving another living person's company and Todd was the perfect fit. His odd way with words made her feel more alive the longer they talked.

When Carly shivered from the cold, finally letting her anger slip away, Todd offered to take her home. Carly pretended to think for a minute, not really needing to think about her answer.

"Alright, as long as you promise not to write an article on all of the baby toys all over my house. My daughter takes after her mother. She doesn't like cleaning up her messes."

Todd grinned as he took Carly's arm and let her lead him to her home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here. Is chapter 2. I'm sorry Jarly lovers, I'm a fan too (I'm a fan of Carly and anyone) but Jason was just irritating during the whole Sam rape/pregnancy storyline. I wish they would have more Joss scenes. She is just too cute for words. Anyway, read and REVIEW! I don't own ABC, GH, characters or storylines. ENJOY!**

Todd noticed Carly's hands trembling as she put the key in the door to let them in. "You nervous Carly-babes?"

Carly flinched and snatched her arm out of Todd's grasp, "Do not EVER call me that again." Carly growled focusing her steely glare on him.

Todd, aware he had just struck a nerve immediately agreed but figured he would push the matter further.

"Which ex gave you that pet name? Doesn't seem like Sonny's style. And I'm just guessing here, but I'm thinking it wasn't Jasper Jacks either. So who was it?"

"It's too early in the day and I haven't had enough liquor to get into my life story with you. Wait until my daughter is in bed for the night and I've had half a bottle of tequila and then ask me that question." Carly deadpanned in response.

Carly threw her keys on the decorative table that was up against the wall in the foyer and kicked off her high heels.

Todd was about to comment on Carly's habits when he saw one of the most beautiful little girls he had ever seen.

Platinum blonde hair, bright blue eyes, lovely smile and she didn't seem to be but a year younger than Hope. She almost looked just like her mother, but Todd noticed Carly had brown eyes so the blue must have come from one of Carly's ex husbands.

"MOMMY!" The little girl yelled as she jumped into Carly's waiting arms. Carly pulled in her daughter for a tight hug but then loosened her grip turning towards Todd.

"Josslyn, this is Todd. He's a friend of mommy's. Can you say 'Hi Todd'?" Todd's world went luminous as little Josslyn gave a dazzling smile and squealed, "I Todd!"

He couldn't help but smile and laugh at this little girl who seemed to love the world so much. Hope had always been quiet, reserved and clever while Josslyn seemed outgoing, loving and independent.

Todd watched in awe as Carly put her 2 year old down and they walked side by side to the kitchen, Josslyn giving a rundown of her day and Carly simply listening.

The smile slipped off Todd's face when he heard a deep voice coming from the kitchen. He watched as Carly snatched up Josslyn and pulled a gun out of her waistline.

"Relax. Jeez it's me!" The deep voice said. All of the tension trained out of Carly's shoulder's as she put Josslyn down on the floor and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Morgan Stone Corinthos! You scared the hell outta me!" Carly said as she flipped the light switch in the kitchen. "Now get over hear and give your mom a big fat kiss." Carly said seriously.

Morgan groaned and rolled his head back in protest. "1...2!.." Carly started,

"OKAY! OKAY!. Jeesh mom." Morgan said getting up out of the chair and engulfing his mother's tiny body in his arms tightly. "I missed you mom." He said.

Todd had to fight the guffaw that was trying to worm it's way out of his mouth. This boy seemed to be 16 or 17 years old and Carly could still count and get him to do things her way.

"I see you Todd. You want to laugh, but I still count with Michael too and he's 20 years old." Carly said, grinning slightly. "Todd Manning?" Morgan asked, breaking the embrace.

"The very same. Nice to 'meetcha' Morgan." Todd said, sticking out his hand for Morgan to shake. Todd held his breath waiting for Morgan's reaction.

Todd was shocked with Morgan left his hand hanging midair and just hugged him. "Thank you. Thank you for making my mother and my brother happy again." Morgan said.

Todd stood with his mouth hanging open too shocked to form coherent words. Morgan laughed at Todd's reaction.

"Yeah. I'm assuming you weren't expecting that. I'm nothing like my father. Or my namesake for that matter. I take after my mother, which is much more dangerous than Sonny and Jason combined, I might add."

Todd nodded, "Yeah, I think I've gathered that. I've heard all about the wrath of Carly Corinthos-Jacks." Mercedes brought Josslyn back into the kitchen then and the world turned bright again.

"MORGGY!" Josslyn screamed dashing for Morgan. Morgan laughed and held his arms out for her to run into.

Todd noticed how when the two siblings collided it was as if the sun itself had exploded. He heard the front door opened and saw Michael enter the kitchen seconds later and watched as the sun exploded again.

Morgan and Michael embraced as if they hadn't seen each other in years, and Josslyn cried out "MIKEY!" as she pounced on him too. Seeing this Todd realized this must be the famous Spencer sense of family he had heard so much about.

The kids all seemed to ooze happiness when they were together, and Carly was grinning from ear to ear.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, but why are you stopping by?" Carly asked her eldest son. "I just swung by to pick up Morgan. He's crashing at my place for a couple a' days." Michael answered jingling his keys in his hand to emphasize the 'swinging by'.

"Alright, well I love ya' both." Carly said, kissing both boys on the tops of their heads before they could run out the door. "Bye mom! Bye Joss! Bye Todd!" The boys called in unison as they walked out the front door.

"Those boys." Carly chuckled, shaking her head. "You ready for bed princess?" Carly asked Josslyn. "Sure mommy. Goodnight Todd!" Josslyn beamed, waving happily as she followed her mother upstairs.

Todd rummaged around Carly's kitchen looking for some sodas or beers and something to snack on. He pulled two beers our of the fridge and found a bag of cheesy puffs in the pantry. He took everything into the living room and made himself comfortable before Carly came back into the room.

He popped open his can and took a drink of the chilly beer just as Carly made her way back down the stairs.

"I see you found my 'fridge." Carly said, noticing the beers and cheesy puffs.

"Yeah, I couldn't find any tequila so I figured beer was the next best thing. You think you can tell me your life story now?" Todd teased. "I guess I cou-" Carly started, but she was interrupted by her front door slamming shut.

Carly gave Todd a confused glance and got up to see who had entered her house. Carly walked to the archway between her foyer and living room and saw Jason.

"Jason! What are you doing here? I was jus-" Carly started to greet Jason but cut off when she saw the look on his face.

"Jason?" He didn't respond, and that scared Carly more than his facial expression and body language did. She quickly backed up into the living room near Todd, though she wasn't sure why.

Todd wouldn't be able to take Jason in a fight, so Carly wasn't sure why she wanted Todd for protection.

"You. You ruined my entire life. From the moment we met at Jake's back in '96 you have made my life a living hell. I lost my ability to stay unattached. That night when you came to my pent house in tears sniveling on about how Tony Jones and A.J. Were threatening to take your baby from you, I never should have said I would pretend to be the baby's father. Michael would have been just fine with A.J. and I know he would have been alright growing up without a mother like you." Jason growled.

"What the hell Jason? Why are you saying this?" Carly demanded, tears flowing freely. "And then, you had to go and sleep with Sonny, and whether I like it or not, that hurt. I wasted my time out in Jersey getting information on A.J. being an arsonist when you didn't even stay with Sonny. You were typical Carly, got in a fight with A.J. and fell down a flight of stairs. You miscarried Sonny's baby and then made his life a living hell. Why do you think he cheated on you with Alexis? Why would a happily married man sleep with his attorney Carly?" Jason cruelly threw the words at her like daggers.

Before Carly could even say anything in response, Jason continued. "Oh, and then you decided to open up your own club, saw your husband kissing his ex-fiance/almost wife and you went to Jake's to get sympathy from Coleman or anyone who would listen. What happened next? Oh yeah. Fowler drugged your drink and you let Ric rape you. You ruined any chance Sonny may have had for a relationship with his brother. Because after that Ric kidnapped you when you were pregnant with Morgan and he chained you to a wall. Ric let you go and you let Lorenzo Alcazar kidnap you! When you finally gave birth Sonny shot you in the head and you didn't die unfortunately. You were just put in a coma. You woke up thinking you loved Alcazar and ruined multiple business deals in the making. You were put into an insane asylum... again. I forgot to mention that before didn't I? Well here's a refresher. You shot Tony Jones in open court and I had to fight to keep custody of your son and then get you out of Fern Cliff." Jason continued mercilessly, unaware they had visitors.

"You let Kate take Michael to that warehouse where he was shot in the head and put in a coma for a year. You got pregnant to replace your son and chose not to terminate a high risk pregnancy. But oh, that's not all. That pregnancy you didn't terminate? It lead to you giving your daughter tumors on both of her kidneys. You used my dead son as an organ donor for your cancer infected daughter! And, you let your son get sentenced to prison where he was raped. Everything bad that has ever happened to this family was because of you!" Jason boomed.

Morgan stood under the arch, arms crossed and brow furrowed while Michael strolled forward and called out, "Jason." When Jason turned to face Michael he was met with a sucker punch to the right side of his face.

"Get out. You are not welcomed here and you don't deserve to have the love of anyone in our family. I know you found Sam in bed with another man tonight, but none of that is mom's fault. So you should leave. Now." Michael's eyes were alight with the fire many saw in his mother's on a daily basis.

Michael had never known Jason to be cruel to those he loved, it puzzled him.

"Fine, I'm leaving. You'll find out eventually that everything that ever goes bad is, in some way, your mother's fault." And with that Jason turned on his heel and walked out the door slamming it.

Michael and Morgan followed him out, leaving for the night.

"Well on the bright side, at least you don't have to tell me your whole life story anymore. 'stone cold' just did that for you." Todd joked, trying to add levity to the situation. But any attempt Todd had at making more jokes flew out the window when Carly turned around and he saw her face.

She was scarily pale and fresh tears were still pouring down her cheeks. "My best friend finally realized what everyone else already has. I just lost the only person who has ever consistently loved me through everything. I just lost Jason." Carly sobbed sinking to the floor.

Todd didn't even think, he just reacted. He crouched on the floor next to her and held her until he heard her breathing even out. Looking down he wondered how Carly didn't have more men like Jason Morgan in her life.

Todd figured Carly was what every man wanted, a strong-willed, independent woman who still wanted their advice, who still valued their opinion. Todd leaned back against the couch and fell asleep thinking of what life would have been like if he had known Carly since 1996.


	3. Chapter 3

***WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH* This. Killed. Me. I hope you like this story so far, and I hope you will continue to enjoy this story after this chapter. On the bright side Carly and Luke are talking here :D I do not own GH, ABC, characters or storylines. Despite the death, I'm hoping you will ENJOY!  
**

The next morning Todd held the door to Kelley's as Carly and Josslyn walked in a found a booth for the three of them to sit at.

"Ah, dear niece. What can I get you, your daughter and your hostage?" Luke asked Carly once they had all sat down.

"Always nice to see you too Uncle Luke." Carly said, only slightly sarcastic.

"Joss and I'll have our usual. And our hostage can have whatever he wants. He's paying." Carly snickered.

"I guess I'll just have whatever Carly usually has." Todd replied glancing at Carly.

"It seems Caroline's "Spencer gene" has gotten it's hooks into you. You should've run when you had the chance." Luke chuckled.

Todd relished the sound of Carly laughing along until she suddenly stopped. She was staring at something by the door, Todd followed her stare only to see Johnny Zacchara and Sam Morgan.

"We can cancel the order and leave if you want Carly." Todd said. "No, it's my family's diner. If anyone is going to leave, it's going to be them."

Carly replied stubbornly. Todd was about to reply when the door to Kelley's opened again, letting in an icy chill.

He turned to see who had come in this time and saw Jason Morgan looking pissed. "You Son of a bitch!" Jason roared, seeing Johnny with Sam.

Not even thinking, Jason pulled out his gun and aimed it at Johnny. Before Carly could stop her, Josslyn got up and started running toward Jason.

"Uncle Jason!" Josslyn giggled as she ran towards him. Carly watched in horror as Jason pulled the trigger and her daughter let out a gurgled cry and fell to the floor. "NO!" Carly screamed and a gut wrenching sob escaped her.

She jumped out of her seat and went to Josslyn's lifeless body.

"Luke! Call 911!" Todd yelled to Luke, who had watched the scene play out from behind the counter.

"Oh God! No!" Jason whispered frantically, his gun dropping from his hand and landing on the wood floor with a loud thud.

Before anyone could react Carly picked up Jason's gun and aimed it.

Three shots were fired one after another, each hitting their target. The mob enforcer's stone cold heart.

When Jason had pulled the trigger Carly now had her finger on and shot his own goddaughter he opened himself up to the infamous wrath of Carly Corinthos-Jacks.

Carly's daughter was lying dead on the floor of her family owned restaurant and Carly's heart was shattered.

It didn't matter to her whether or not Jason meant to shoot Josslyn, he shouldn't have pulled the gun out in the first place.

Carly stood arm outstretched, smoking gun still hot in her hand. She saw rather than felt Luke gently take the gun out of her tight grasp.

Carly saw the glimmer of pride in her uncle's eyes as he took the gun and put it in his waistline.

"Son of a bitch deserved it. You are a Spencer through and through Caroline." Luke said.

Carly felt hot tears roll down her cheeks and she squeezed her eyes shut. Luke wrapped his arms around his niece comfortingly, knowing all to well that the loss of a child is the worst pain someone can ever feel.


	4. Chapter 4

**Final Chapter. I know this chapter is just wishful thinking. Everyone would rat Carly out. I hate that. Anyway, I loved writing this story and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Read and REVIEW! Story suggestions are appreciated. I don't own GH, ABC, characters or storylines. ENJOY!**

When the police arrived Dante questioned Carly first, who was rocking her bloodied baby girl in her arms.

Carly said that it had been mob related, the cover up she had kept in the back of her mind during all those years of being married to Sonny.

Carly easily described some foot soldiers for a rival mob that had opened fire in Kelley's and shot her only daughter and ex-best friend Jason Morgan.

She heard Todd and Luke back up her story without hesitation, and when Dante moved to Johnny and Sam she looked up boldly into their eyes; daring them to speak out.

"Morgan had what was coming to him. Bastard hurt too many people, it was only a matter of time. Didn't even see the hit man coming." Johnny told Dante, keeping his eyes on Carly.

Carly could see tears in his eyes, Johnny had come to adore her daughter and had always left their dinner dates forgotten just to read to Carly's little miracle.

Looking over at Sam, Carly could see the pain and sympathy written all over her face. "Jason got sloppy. He wasn't paying attention, and because he brought business with him into the diner Josslyn is dead. He shouldv'e known a rival wasn't going value the life of some little girl the way the men in Sonny's organization do."

Carly watched stonily as they put the lifeless body of her daughter into a body bag and placed her on a gurney.

Todd carefully put his arms around Carly's body more to hold her back than to comfort her.

"Carly...we. We're so sorry." Sam said solemnly. Johnny stared sorrowfully at the gurney that was carrying Josslyn off, thinking of the irony of it all.

It had always seemed as if Carly and Jason couldn't live without each other but everyone was wrong. Most of them thought that Carly was the one who was clinging, that she was the one who wouldn't survive without Jason.

In reality, Jason was the one who couldn't live without Carly. Johnny had heard about the confrontation yesterday between Carly and Jason, people had already started making bets on how long Carly would be able to live without him.

Johnny had always known that Carly was stronger than everyone thought she was, she simply oozed independence and determination.

Anyone who said Carly wasn't a good mother got proved wrong today, Carly proved her children meant more to her than her own happiness.

"I don't blame you Sam. I don't even blame you Johnny. Jason has hurt my family more than he has helped since the day I asked him to pretend to be Michael's father. Michael was shot in the head and raped because of Jason. Josslyn is dead because of him. Johnny, you were shot and Sam you were raped because of him. He's lucky I didn't kill him sooner." Carly seethed.

Todd watched as Carly eyed a limo with tinted windows he assumed was Sonny's. The powerful Cuban stepped out of his limo in his usual dark pressed suit and approached Carly calmly.

"I heard what he said to you. Michael told me everything. I'm surprised you didn't shoot the bastard last night when he went off on you. I came here to tell you none of what he said was true. None of that was your fault. I'm so sorry Josslyn is gone Carly. I know how hard it was for you to even conceive her." Sonny said, trying to console his ex-wife.

Todd watched stiffly as Sonny reached out and hugged Carly tightly. Just this simply show of consolation had Todd feeling jealous.

In that moment he vowed to get Carly to love him like she had never loved any other man.

They could make another little girl together, and even remember Josslyn's bright smile together. He promised himself he was going to make a family with Carly.

Even if it killed him.


End file.
